Hello dear friends! I am so excited to extend a warm welcome to author Christina Morland today!! Not only is Christina a highly acclaimed and talented author, but she is also an incredibly lovely person and sweet friend to this blog! If you didn’t already know, Christina released a fabulous new Sense and Sensibility sequel titled, The Year In Between, earlier this year! (Thank you, Christina, S&S needs some love! 💕) And not only that, Christina has now made The Year In Between available in paperback! Woot woot! 🙌🏼
Christina is here to share an enticing excerpt from The Year in Between with you today. We hope you enjoy!
Meredith, thank you so much for allowing me to visit Austenesque Reviews. You have made this such a lovely online space for gathering with fellow Austenesque readers and writers!
The excerpt below takes place several months after Elinor Dashwood married Edward Ferrars—and more than half a year since Marianne Dashwood learned of Willoughby’s perfidy. Marianne and her family are attending a dinner party at Barton Park, held in honor of Mrs. Honoria Ferrars, Edward’s mother and a guest of Sir John and Lady Middleton. Poor Marianne has been seated in the worst possible location: across from the hateful Mrs. Ferrars and very near Catherine Whitmire, a widowed cousin of Sir John who is a little too cheerful (especially towards Colonel Brandon) for Marianne’s taste. As this excerpt begins, Mrs. Whitmire and Sir John are laughing about how ill Marianne appeared after Mrs. Whitmire recited an especially bad piece of poetry.
~ Excerpt from Chapter Seven, “Dinner Party Conversations” ~
When the cousins began laughing, Marianne hardly knew how to respond. She felt her cheeks flush, her
heart race, and her eyes prick with angry tears at being made into the butt of their joke. Even Mrs. Ferrars was laughing—and oh, what an awful, raspy sound that was!
It was then that Brandon looked at her. She would have been glad to have exchanged a laughing glance with him when Mrs. Whitmire had been the object of scorn—but no, he just had to look at her now, when she was the one being laughed at. Oh, she knew she deserved such humiliation after all those instances when she had laughed at others—yet must Brandon always catch her struggling to overcome her own hypocrisy?
She glared at him, as if daring him to join in the laughter of his friends. But he did not laugh; he did not even smile. He merely raised an eyebrow, as if asking, How will you respond?
Something in his expression—the implied challenge of that raised brow, perhaps, or maybe his unflappable composure, never so evident as when everyone else around him was laughing like hyenas—encouraged her to take a deep breath and reconsider her predicament. Were Sir John and Mrs. Whitmire laughing at her, or were they laughing at themselves? And did the answer even matter? Mrs. Ferrars was almost certainly laughing at Marianne, but since when had Marianne concerned herself with the opinion of Honoria Ferrars?
She thought suddenly of Elinor. Her sister would not have grown angry or felt humiliated in such a situation; she would have met Mrs. Ferrars’s insults with a tilt of her chin and matched the chortles of Sir John and Mrs. Whitmire with laughter of her own.
Holding her head high—this was something Marianne could do. But laughing in the face of ridiculous behavior? This was more difficult. The best she could manage was a smile that felt stiff and unnatural.
Yet there must have been something like amusement in her expression, for Sir John said, “Ah, I see you grinning, Miss Marianne! You do think the poem balderdash!”
“If I do,” she said, with an apologetic smile for Mrs. Whitmire, “it is only because I was never a ‘good little lady’ myself.”
Mrs. Whitmire grinned and clapped her hands with delight, while Sir John chortled into his wine. And Mrs. Ferrars? Well, Marianne did not bother looking at her. It was Brandon’s response she wanted: eyes, crinkled with amusement, then darkening the longer she looked into them; lips, curved into a warm smile that faltered a moment after her gaze traveled to his mouth.
“Oh, but you are capital, Miss Dashwood! You are just as Evelina promised you would be!” exclaimed Mrs. Whitmire.
Marianne tore her gaze from Brandon. “Evelina? I am afraid I know no one by that name.”
Mrs. Whitmire and Sir John glanced at each other before breaking into a fresh round of laughter. The rest of the table quieted, every head turning, for so much jollity from one end of the table must be a matter of concern for them all.
“Miss Dashwood,” called Mrs. Jennings over the din, “do tell Sir John and Cathy to stop laughing at me!”
“I believe,” she replied, taking a steadying sip of wine, “they are laughing at me, Mrs. Jennings.”
“Oh no, they find great pleasure, whenever they are together, in poking fun at me for my first name—as if Cathy or John were any better than Evelina!”
Marianne nearly dropped her glass. “You are called Evelina?”
“Oh ho! Now I suppose you, too, will laugh at my name!” Yet it was Mrs. Jennings who laughed at herself, and with such obvious enjoyment that most of the rest of the party joined in. Not Mrs. Ferrars (who, in laughing at Marianne, had no doubt used up her allotment of humor for the year), nor Lady Middleton (who never found anything except the antics of her children amusing). And so, Marianne, by not laughing, found herself in rather unpleasant company.
Yet she was too interested in the issue of the name to feign humor. “Have you read Mrs. Burney’s novel Evelina, Mrs. Jennings? Were you, perchance, named after that heroine?”
She ought to have known better than to ask an earnest question about a book in such a setting, for it only inspired greater mirth around the table.
“You are a dear, Miss Marianne,” said Mrs. Jennings (who, especially after a few glasses of wine, often forgot to call her Miss Dashwood), “but I was born almost two decades before that novel appeared. And no, I have not read it, but both my daughters have, and Charlotte tells me that Fanny Burney must have met me as a young lady and decided to write a biography!”
“I believe,” said Lady Middleton, as her mother chuckled at her own joke, “my sister Charlotte must not have read the book after all.”
This statement caused much hilarity among the usual set, though Lady Middleton, if her frown was any indication, had surely not intended such a response.
“What say you, Miss Dashwood?” asked Sir John. “I suppose you must have read the novel, as you read everything. Is my mother-in-law in fact the model for the heroine in question?”
Marianne wondered how best to answer such an inquiry; in the novel, Evelina Anville was the pretty and unacknowledged daughter of a nobleman who, after a series of diverting misunderstandings, managed to win the heart and hand of an aristocrat. The fictional Evelina had little in common with Mrs. Jennings, except for their given name—and their shared capacity for inspiring amusement.
Marianne was spared from having to answer, for Fanny cleared her throat and said, “I do not myself read many novels—we are not fond of them, are we, Mama?—and yet I did peruse this one, only because it was talked about so often in drawing rooms a few seasons ago that I felt I had no choice but to read it.”
“Oh, I felt exactly the same way,” said Lady Middleton, whose tone made clear how little she approved of those rare instances when respectability and intelligence overlapped.
“And while I cannot say,” continued Fanny, “whether Evelina resembles Mrs. Jennings, I am struck by the similarity between Evelina and Miss Marianne.”
Marianne met Fanny’s eyes and knew nothing good could come of this comparison.
“Certainly, certainly!” agreed Mrs. Jennings. “They are both charming, pretty young ladies!”
“Yes, and yet I was most struck,” said Fanny, “by poor Evelina’s fate.”
“As the novel came to a very happy conclusion,” said Elinor, “I am at a loss, Fanny, as to the source of your pity for Evelina.”
“She did find some measure of happiness, I suppose, but she allowed herself to be so easily deceived by the
villain of the book. He wrote her a letter that quite broke her heart. Oh, what was his name again?” Fanny bit her lip, as if deep in thought. “I believe the name began with a W.”
Marianne inhaled sharply. How could she have possibly forgotten that detail—or rather, not the detail (for she knew the name of the villain only too well) but the connection between the novel and her own experience?
“Fanny,” said Edward, in as sharp a tone as Marianne had ever heard him use in company, “let us discuss something else. Not everyone here has read the novel.”
“Yes, but you have.” Fanny tittered. “I think my brother has read more novels than I have! He certainly has a better memory for these little details. Perhaps you can remind us of the name of that character, Edward—the one that begins with W?”
“What I remember is that you have always disliked when others discuss books at social gatherings.” Then, forcing a laugh, he looked to the others. “I was chastised most severely last winter when, on attending some grand London assembly with my family, it was discovered I had concealed a small book in my waistcoat pocket.”
This comment returned most members of the party to their more natural state of laughter and chatter. Marianne shot Edward a grateful smile, and he responded by making a face. Then he turned to say something to Mr. Needham, and Marianne supposed the danger had passed.
“Willings!” cried Mrs. Whitmire, quite out of nowhere, and the table again grew silent. “No, not Willings—but something like it, I am sure!” Mrs. Whitmire laughed and looked to Fanny. “I read Evelina, too, you know—and I am now bothered to distraction by being unable to remember the villain’s name!”
“I forget such things often enough,” said Mrs. Dashwood, with a worried glance at Marianne. “I find it best to put the matter aside for a while, and then I am sure to remember later.”
“Oh, but it is on the tip of my tongue!” said Mrs. Whitmire. “Do you not simply hate when that happens? Williams, Willingham, Wiltshire—so very close to my own name, you would think I ought to remember it! Wheelbarrow?” She chuckled. “No, not that!”
Lady Middleton coughed delicately from the other end of the table, and Sir John said, “Cathy, perhaps we ought—”
“What about Willbraham? Or Willberforce?”
With such a rattling off of names—with nearly everyone’s gaze fixed on her—what else could Marianne do?
“Willoughby,” she said, her voice steady. “The character’s name is Sir Clement Willoughby.”
A beat of silence, and then, at last, Marianne found herself free to laugh. At the situation, yes; at Fanny’s failed attempt to provoke her, certainly; but most of all, she laughed at herself—at that girl who had refused to speak Willoughby’s name for half a year, so certain it possessed all the power of a magical incantation.
Oh such a scene! I see Fanny is still a terrible shrew! Well done, Edward! Oh and I loved silent exchanges between Colonel Brandon and Marianne. *swoon* I cannot wait to see more! 🥰
~ Book Description ~
Marianne Dashwood was “born to an extraordinary fate…to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favorite maxims” (Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility). After Willoughby’s betrayal, how did Marianne learn to see Colonel Brandon—and herself—in a new light? And how did Edward Ferrars and Elinor Dashwood fare during their first year of marriage?
~~~
~ About Christina ~
Christina Morland spent the first two decades of her life with no knowledge of Pride and Prejudice—or
any Jane Austen novel, for that matter. After overcoming this childhood affliction, she became a devoted fan of all things Austen.
Morland is the author of three Pride and Prejudice variations, a Sense and Sensibility variation, and three Austenesque short stories featured in the Quill Collective anthologies. She is currently at work on a new Pride and Prejudice variation, as well as a fantasy novel that has nothing at all to do with Jane Austen.
When not writing, Morland tries to keep up with her creative, mischievous daughter and her maddeningly brilliant husband. She lives in a place not unlike Hogwarts (minus Harry, Dumbledore, magic, and Scotland), and likes to think of herself as an excellent walker.
To learn more about Morland’s books and stories, check out her blog, follow her on Amazon, Goodreads, or BookBub, or visit her Facebook page.
~~~
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Christina is generously giving away 1️⃣ ebook and 1️⃣ paperback copy of The Year In Between in conjunction with this blog tour!! Woot woot!
To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Christina!
- This giveaway is open worldwide for the paperback (and to anyone with an Amazon.com account for the ebook). Thank you, Christina!
- This giveaway ends April 2nd.
Have absolutely adored all of your P&P variations–especially “Seasons of Waiting.” Can’t wait to check this book out. 🙂
Cassandra, it means a great deal to know you’ve found some enjoyment in my other books! Thanks so much for stopping by!
So happy to see you here, Christina! Oh, my heart hurt for Marianne with the spiteful Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny. All I can say, is I absolutely loved ‘The Year in Between’! It was brilliant!!! Thank you for taking this ‘missing year’ and bringing it to life! (Do not enter me in the giveaway).
Hi, Carole! So happy to see you here as well! 😀 Thank you so much for your kind review and for taking the time to read the book! And I have to say — I love writing spiteful characters like Fanny (and Lucy Steele). Must say something about my own character. 😉 Thanks again!
Poor Marianne. At least she found a way to laugh again. I look forward to reading this as We are just finishing S&S at our Jane Austen reading group.
Thanks so much for your comment, Lynn! I love that you’re just finishing a read through of S&S with a JA book group. Is this your first time reading the book, or have you read it before? If the latter, has reading it with a group changed your perspective on the book in anyway? Either way, do you have a favorite part or character? (Sorry for all the questions…can you tell I’ve been a teacher at various points in my life? ;-D Anyway, no obligation to respond, of course. I just love talking about books!)
Many thanks, Meredith, for hosting me — and especially for the kind introduction! I love this web site, and I love that you read in paperback! I love paperback books (even if I’m very slow and imperfect at turning my e-books into paperbacks! :-D).
You are such a dear, Christina!! Thank you so much for visiting my blog as a reader and an author! I’m so very happy to have you share in the discussion here! And thank you soooooo much for making your books available in paperback! I know it is an arduous task, but your books are so worth the wait!!
I am so looking forward to reading this! I love the idea and I love Christina’s writing! Thank you for generously offering a giveaway!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Abigail, and best of luck with the giveaway!
Loved the excerpt! The silent communication between Marianne and the Colonel was very swoon worthy. This has been on my wish list for a while. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Thanks, Pam! I’m a big fan of silent communication…at least in novels. 😉 (I’ve tried practicing it in real life; somehow, I’m just not as good as it as fictional characters! :D)
Looking forward to reading this.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Ann-Marie!
Enjoyed the excerpt. Congrats on the release.
Thanks so much, darcybennett, both for your kind comment and for the congratulations!
Your #1 fan, I swear! I recommend your books to everyone any chance I get. I bought this paperback but I’m still waiting for Seasons of Waiting in paperback
Oh, thank you, Sharon! That is so kind. I’m putting Seasons of Waiting into paperback next! (When “next” is, I’m hesitant to say, as I never finish things when I say I will…but hopefully in the next month or two.) (See, now I’ve jinxed myself!) Thanks so much for your encouragement, Sharon, and for stopping by to comment!
A great moment between Brandon and Marianne. When they exchange a look & she finds strength in her voice again at such a difficult moment. Really moving and at the same time making me feel like “you go girl” 😉 !! What a wonderful book this promisses to be. Got a soft spot for S&S, it was my first Austen, so I really enjoyed the excerpt !! A shame when it ended, therefor I would love to be entered for a paperback copy. (Don’t have an ereader) Thanks for a chance to win 😀
Charlotte, thanks so much for your kind words on the excerpt. I’m grateful that you saw both Brandon’s support and Marianne’s growing fortitude in this scene. And so glad there’s another S&S fan out there! There’s so much wit in that novel. Good luck with the giveaway!
I’m always on the look out for S&S fics and variations and I could never understand why there aren’t more of them; the original leaves a lot of opportunity for further exploration. So when I discovered The Year in Between e-book earlier this month, I was blown away.
Christina fills in S&S’s missing gap in a way that both honors and expands upon the original characters. All of our favorites return, this time with agency and depth that can only be achieved from a 21st century perspective.
My favorite part of this TYIB is Marianne’s journey for self-improvement. In other variations I’ve read Marianne has either matured beyond recognition or regressed into extreme childish and shallow behavior. Christina’s portrayal has Marianne really struggling with how she wants to be vs. how she acts. The book’s message that self-improvement and growth are never linear (or complete for that matter) really stuck with me.
I also adored reading about Brandon & Marianne’s courtship. Seeing how the two fall in love is something that I’ve always felt lacking from the original. I truly could go on about how much I loved TYIB (Elinor and Edward’s relationship is beautifully written) but I will end with a complaint: Christina has raised my standards so high that I don’t think I’ll be quite as satisfied with other S&S variations! I would love to read another from her.
Wow, Sara, thank you so much! I’m incredibly grateful that you found joy in reading about Marianne’s struggle for self-improvement. (It’s a struggle I’m all too familiar with, even though I’m a good bit older than Marianne! :D)
On the topic of other S&S variations, I’ve not read any yet (purposefully stayed away before writing my own) — but I know there are several really good ones out there based on Meredith’s reviews. And while I don’t currently have plans to write more about S&S, I did write a bonus epilogue and a bonus scene from Brandon’s perspective (the scene in the library on the night of the assembly). Both are posted on my web site if you’re interested: https://christinamorland.wordpress.com/books-books-never-enough-books/bonus-epilogue-for-the-year-in-between/
Thanks again for your kind comment!
It would seem that Marianne is finally growing up
Hah! She’s trying to grow up, at least. I find that I’m still trying to grow up — and I’m in my 40s! 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by, Vesper!
Ahh, loved reading that scene again. Fab book.
Please do not enter me in the giveaway.
Many thanks, Sophia Rose! It meant a lot for you to read and write about my book.
This book sounds wonderful.
denise
Thank you, Denise! I’m grateful you stopped by, and good luck with the giveaway!
Sounds like a fantastic variation. I love portraits on covers.
Many thanks, Mary! I, too, love the portrait. I was so excited to find it on Wikimedia commons, especially because it’s entitled “The Sisters” — and it’s a portrait of two of the artist’s daughters, one of whom is named….wait for it…Eleanor! (Okay, the spelling doesn’t match, and the Peales are from the U.S. in the 1820s, not England in the 1810s, but it felt right, you know?) Thanks for stopping by!
I plan to read this one way or another. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Thank you, Sheila, for stopping by! I always enjoy reading your thoughts about Austeneque books on the GR site. Best of luck in the giveaway!
Sounds marvelous! Congratulations on the new release!
Thanks so much, Whyndwhyspsyr! It’s always an honor to send a book into the world. Grateful you stopped by, and good luck with the giveaway!
Oh, how wonderful to finally meet another person who was interested in writing a variation of a book *other* than Pride and Prejudice! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but there are just SO MANY!! I’m happy to have another member of what seems a very exclusive club — I, too, wrote an S&S variation a few years ago as first in a series of variations (illness has kept me from finishing the second for a sadly long while, but I’ve been working on it again and hope to finish it soon!).
Anyhoo, I am so much more eager to read this book now that I know it’s an S&S retelling. It’s definitely going on my TBR mountain!
Yay! I love seeing fellow S&S writers — and a fellow Christina! What is the name of your book? I haven’t yet read any S&S variations (stayed away before writing my own), but I’d love to hear more! I’m so sorry to hear that illness has kept you from writing in the past, but I’m very glad that you’re writing again now. Good luck with the new book, and do let know about your book!
Oh my goodness, a paperback!! When I buy it (and I now see there’s also a paperback of ARAS!!), I’ll need your signature!
Paige, you are too kind! It meant so much to me that you, Gina, and Wendy took the time to read this book and then write about it together on your wonderful blog!
This looks enticing, and I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks, Christina, for your generosity – there’s always a place for your books on my shelf.
Thank you so much, LilaneS! Yours is such a lovely, kind, and welcoming comment. Best of luck in the giveaway, and thanks again for your comment!
(And my apologies for mistyping your name, LilyaneS!)
A great scene, now I can’t wait to read the book.
Thank you so much, Kristin! I appreciate you stopping by to comment, and best of luck in the giveaway!
Please do not enter me in the contest, but that was a really good except. Ugh, Fanny, Mrs Ferrars, AND Lady Middleton were so unpleasant. Ugh! Excellent job, especially in keeping the characters true to character.
Thanks, Jen D! I take far too much pleasure in writing characters like Fanny, Mrs. Ferrars, and Lady Middleton…perhaps I find too much of them in myself at times? 😉 Of course, all credit must go to Jane Austen, for she wrote such perfectly awful characters like Fanny and Lucy Steele (as well as perfectly wonderful ones like Elinor)! Appreciate you stopping by to read and comment!
Oh my days! I was feeling for Marianne then! When I first read S&S as a teenager I had no patience for Marianne, because, as unromantic as it is, I am an Elinor through and through. I think these days I have more empathy because I was dying a death for her just then!
Ceri, I know what you mean about once not having much patience with Marianne. I felt the same way — though in my case, perhaps it was because I am a good deal more like Marianne than Elinor (but always wished I could be more Elinor-esque). I think Sense and Sensibility is more Elinor’s story than Marianne’s — or at least, we get to see how Elinor has to struggle to keep her feelings in check, and so we feel her pain, even if everyone around her cannot see it. One of the joys of writing this book was getting to show Marianne’s struggle — even though she does pretty well on her own showing everyone around her how she’s struggling! 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by, Ceri!
What a wonderful idea for this book! I am glad to see that Marianne is happy with Colonel Brandon, and I so enjoyed their non-verbal conversation. I always thought she was so fortunate to capture his regard and it looks like she feels the same way now. Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway.
I’m glad you enjoyed the excerpt, Eva E! Thanks so much for stopping by to comment, and best of luck with the giveaway!
The more excerpts I am reading, the more I am liking this book. 🙂
Patricia, so glad you’re enjoying the excerpts! I appreciate you stopping by to comment!
The Year in Between is a book that is good literature and we all know how hard that is to find (and I’m not talking just about JAFF.) I’ve just read the scene (for those who have read the story let’s call it “The Door scene” 😉 ) from Brandon’s POV and it was so good! Just the fact that Morland sacrificed a scene like this to stay true to her work…I’m amazed!
What can I say? If you only have to read one book this year, read this book!
Ah, Alexandra, you paint me in too favorable a light! First, thank you so much for stopping by to comment! I’m very grateful for your encouragement! Second, that bonus scene from Brandon’s POV — I actually didn’t write until after finishing the book. I certainly had it in mind while writing the “door” scene, for I kept thinking, “What in the world is he thinking?”, but I only wrote the scene after publishing the book. So, there wasn’t so much of a sacrifice involved — just a bit of trying to have my cake and eat it too (if you’ll forgive that somewhat illogical cliche)! Many thanks for your support of this book!
I loved the excerpt. I am a fan of S&S and feel it never gets enough variation love.
Thanks so much for providing the excerpt, Christina, and sharing, Meredith. Appreciate the giveaway opportunity!
So glad to hear from another S&S fan! Many thanks, lorijohnston1, for your kind comment, and best of luck with the giveaway!
Loved The Year In Between. Such a great exploration of that pivotal year for Marianne and Elinor. I am definitely getting a paperback at some point as I already own Christina’s e-books. Can’t wait for Seasons of Waiting to be released in paperback as well.
Gina, thanks so much for stopping by (and sorry for my belated reply)! Appreciate all the encouragement and especially the time you’ve given to my books. I’m getting started on the Seasons of Waiting paperback this week! Happy spring to you!
I love S & S and I am looking forward to reading this one!
Thanks so much for commenting, Lily. I am so glad you’re an S&S fan. Whatever you read next, I hope it brings you joy!